The National Institutes of Health, often known as NIH, is an independent agency operating inside the United States Department of Health and Human services that's mainly responsible for pursuing many of the country's biomedical and health-related scientific studies.
The mission of the NIH has always been to "seek fundamental understanding of the nature and behavior of living systems and the application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce the burdens of illness and disability."
In an attempt to contribute to the realization of this mission, the National Institutes of Health has developed the Shared Instrumentation Grant Program wherein they intend to solicit applications from NIH-supported research proposing to upgrade or purchase a single piece of expensive instrumentation (useful to the industry of science and technology) that at a minimum costs $100,000.
Initially, this program seeks to aid the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) Shared Instrumentation Grant (SIG) Program. The project looks to provide funds to allow NIH-recognized institutions to purchase rather expensive research instruments that can only be justified on a shared-use basis and that are needed for NIH-supported projects in translational, basic, or clinical areas.
The types of research instruments that can be purchased under this program are nuclear magnetic resonance systems, electron and confocal microscopes, mass spectrometers, protein and DNA sequencers, biosensors, x-ray diffractometers and cell sorters.
In most cases, research studies lead to fascinating medical breakthroughs; and the National Institutes of Health intend to contribute to these discoveries by providing researchers and scientists with high-end and top of the line equipment that could potentially make their work more easier and effective.
The minimum cost of the instruments will be $100,000 each, and the maximum amount that will be granted per application will be $600,000.
The institutions and organizations which will be qualified to fill out an application under the Shared Instrumentation Grant Program are the following:
a) Public/State Controlled Institutions of Higher Education
b) Private Institutions of Higher Education
c) Hispanic-serving Institutions
d) Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
e) Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities (TCCUs)
f) Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions
g) Nonprofit Organizations Apart From Institutions of Higher Education
The Department of Health and Human Services, the mother agency that is funding the Shared Instrumentation Grant Program, is the country's principal agency that is generally in charge of preserving the health of all Americans and ensuring the provision of fundamental health and human services to all people needing such services.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Smart Health And Wellbeing Program
The National Science Foundation, often known as NSF, is an independent agency of the United States federal government that is drastically in charge of financing research and education activities in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering.
The work of the NSF will always be carefully guided by their overall agency mission, which is to "To promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense."
In line with this, the National Science Foundation has constituted the development of the Smart Health and Wellbeing (SHB) Program wherein they want to tackle scientific and technical issues that will pave the way towards the transformation of the healthcare process from being rather reactive and hospital centered into becoming preventive, proactive, evidence-based, patient-centered and focused on the wellbeing of the person instead of his/her disease.
The program tries to do this by addressing issues that are connected with sensor technology, networking, information and machine learning technology, system and process modeling, modeling cognitive process and lastly, social and economic issues.
In this regard, the main investigators who would like to participate in this program will have to include research studies that address the following concerns:
1) Digital Health Information Infrastructure - This dimension should include techniques and strategies that will most likely enable the interoperable, distributed, federated, and scalable digital infrastructure, languages, and tools for efficient integration and utilization of electronic health record information, as well as networked applications that can access such information.
2) From Data to Knowledge to Decisions - This dimension is supposed to address the creation of algorithms for the collection of multi-scale clinical, biomedical, contextual, and environmental data concerning every patient which would develop a window towards the establishment of decision support tools that could potentially optimize a patient-centered and evidence-based practice.
3) Empowering Individuals - This dimension will need to include strategies that could help determine socioeconomic and behavioral principles that would influence a patient's participation in healthcare and wellness activities.
4) Sensors, Devices and Robotics - This dimension will include investigative methods that will permit interoperable, temporally synchronized, medical prosthetic and embedded devices to continuously capture, store, and transmit physiological and environmental data.
The program will accommodate two kinds of project classes, the first one would the Exploratory Project, wherein they will award funds ranging from $200,000 to $600,000 with a project length of two to three years. The second project class would be the Integrative Project wherein the NSF will award funds in the amount of $600,000 to $2,000,000 with a project duration of four to five years.
Researchers and investigators will only be eligible to fill out an application for the Smart Health and Wellbeing Program if they are representing any of the following:
a) Universities and colleges including community colleges which campuses are situated in the United States of America.
b) Non-profit, non-academic organizations such as independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, professional societies and other organizations that are associated with research and educational activities.
The work of the NSF will always be carefully guided by their overall agency mission, which is to "To promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense."
In line with this, the National Science Foundation has constituted the development of the Smart Health and Wellbeing (SHB) Program wherein they want to tackle scientific and technical issues that will pave the way towards the transformation of the healthcare process from being rather reactive and hospital centered into becoming preventive, proactive, evidence-based, patient-centered and focused on the wellbeing of the person instead of his/her disease.
The program tries to do this by addressing issues that are connected with sensor technology, networking, information and machine learning technology, system and process modeling, modeling cognitive process and lastly, social and economic issues.
In this regard, the main investigators who would like to participate in this program will have to include research studies that address the following concerns:
1) Digital Health Information Infrastructure - This dimension should include techniques and strategies that will most likely enable the interoperable, distributed, federated, and scalable digital infrastructure, languages, and tools for efficient integration and utilization of electronic health record information, as well as networked applications that can access such information.
2) From Data to Knowledge to Decisions - This dimension is supposed to address the creation of algorithms for the collection of multi-scale clinical, biomedical, contextual, and environmental data concerning every patient which would develop a window towards the establishment of decision support tools that could potentially optimize a patient-centered and evidence-based practice.
3) Empowering Individuals - This dimension will need to include strategies that could help determine socioeconomic and behavioral principles that would influence a patient's participation in healthcare and wellness activities.
4) Sensors, Devices and Robotics - This dimension will include investigative methods that will permit interoperable, temporally synchronized, medical prosthetic and embedded devices to continuously capture, store, and transmit physiological and environmental data.
The program will accommodate two kinds of project classes, the first one would the Exploratory Project, wherein they will award funds ranging from $200,000 to $600,000 with a project length of two to three years. The second project class would be the Integrative Project wherein the NSF will award funds in the amount of $600,000 to $2,000,000 with a project duration of four to five years.
Researchers and investigators will only be eligible to fill out an application for the Smart Health and Wellbeing Program if they are representing any of the following:
a) Universities and colleges including community colleges which campuses are situated in the United States of America.
b) Non-profit, non-academic organizations such as independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, professional societies and other organizations that are associated with research and educational activities.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Slow Aging by Losing Fat
Age management medicine is a new specialty that looks specifically at the aging process and considers how to slow aging and how to make it proceed more smoothly. Aging is normally associated with numerous discomforts and difficulties that people dread and wish to avoid if at all possible as the years tick by. As scientists explore the possibility of managing diseases like diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and atherosclerosis more effectively, they are finding some exciting new information about the body and what may actually be the cause of a lot of discomforts and diseases associated with aging. Chronic inflammation at the cellular and molecular level appears to play an important role in the aging process and in creating and facilitating the development of a number of diseases. Scientists and medical professionals are excited about this common link that appears to be so important in age-related disorders and health issues because controlling inflammation may mean controlling the aging process and a number of the diseases associated with it.
Inflammation is the body's natural response to infection as well as injury. Inflammation, in the case of infection or injury is actually positive and healthy. Unfortunately, as the body ages, or under certain conditions when people are younger, the inflammatory response doesn't end when the infection does. Rather, the inflammation becomes chronic and on-going. Chronic, ongoing inflammation can lead to a whole array of different health problems from depression to generalized weakness and fatigue as well as autoimmune diseases like those mentioned above.
Inflammation is mediated by certain substances in the body like cytokines or C-reactive protein. Tissues exposed to these substances become inflamed. Unfortunately, fat cells actually produce cytokines. That means that if you have more fat cells in the body, you have more cytokines being produced and thus more inflammation. Because inflammation has been associated with aging, this means that being overweight can actually cause you to age faster.
Controlling the inflammation process is important if you want to control heart disease or diabetes or any other disease that is correlated with inflammation. Losing weight, particularly fat from the body can have an impact on the inflammatory response. Some individuals maintain a low calorie restrictive diet that is high in nutrients and micronutrients to lower the inflammatory response in the body. This has been shown to get certain disease states under control as well as slow the aging process. Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy has also been utilized to help reduce the inflammatory response in promising ways. Hormone therapy helps the body balance inflammation, neither preventing inflammation entirely nor allowing it to go unchecked in the body to create on-going problems. Balanced hormones that can be achieved through hormone treatments can make it easier for individuals to lose fat, thereby slowing the aging process and the inflammatory response in the body.
Though losing weight, specifically fat, is a goal for a lot of people right now, the evidence is growing to support another reason why weight loss is beneficial for you. If you're experiencing the classic signs of aging, it appears that getting rid of some extra fat stores in the body can diminish the momentum of the aging process considerably. Whether you use hormones, a calorie restriction diet, or other methods to get your weight under control and lose fat stores, your health will likely improve considerably from your efforts and the progress of time will impact the way you look and feel less profoundly.
Inflammation is the body's natural response to infection as well as injury. Inflammation, in the case of infection or injury is actually positive and healthy. Unfortunately, as the body ages, or under certain conditions when people are younger, the inflammatory response doesn't end when the infection does. Rather, the inflammation becomes chronic and on-going. Chronic, ongoing inflammation can lead to a whole array of different health problems from depression to generalized weakness and fatigue as well as autoimmune diseases like those mentioned above.
Inflammation is mediated by certain substances in the body like cytokines or C-reactive protein. Tissues exposed to these substances become inflamed. Unfortunately, fat cells actually produce cytokines. That means that if you have more fat cells in the body, you have more cytokines being produced and thus more inflammation. Because inflammation has been associated with aging, this means that being overweight can actually cause you to age faster.
Controlling the inflammation process is important if you want to control heart disease or diabetes or any other disease that is correlated with inflammation. Losing weight, particularly fat from the body can have an impact on the inflammatory response. Some individuals maintain a low calorie restrictive diet that is high in nutrients and micronutrients to lower the inflammatory response in the body. This has been shown to get certain disease states under control as well as slow the aging process. Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy has also been utilized to help reduce the inflammatory response in promising ways. Hormone therapy helps the body balance inflammation, neither preventing inflammation entirely nor allowing it to go unchecked in the body to create on-going problems. Balanced hormones that can be achieved through hormone treatments can make it easier for individuals to lose fat, thereby slowing the aging process and the inflammatory response in the body.
Though losing weight, specifically fat, is a goal for a lot of people right now, the evidence is growing to support another reason why weight loss is beneficial for you. If you're experiencing the classic signs of aging, it appears that getting rid of some extra fat stores in the body can diminish the momentum of the aging process considerably. Whether you use hormones, a calorie restriction diet, or other methods to get your weight under control and lose fat stores, your health will likely improve considerably from your efforts and the progress of time will impact the way you look and feel less profoundly.
Sarcopenia: Are You Wasting Away?
If you are past the age of twenty-five, you are probably shrinking. Don't celebrate yet. You are not losing weight; you are losing muscle. On average we lose 18% of our muscle mass between the ages of twenty and fifty and an additional 20% between the ages of fifty and eighty.(1) Unfortunately, this does not lead to weight loss. We gain about one pound of fat and lose about a half a pound of muscle between the ages of thirty and sixty.(2) In other words, your increased girth is simply increased fat. Sarcopenia is the term used for the loss of muscle as a result of aging.
Even if your weight remains the same, you may still be overweight or even obese. If you still weigh the same but you lost twenty percent of your muscle mass, guess what happened to the weight? That's right! It turned to fat. Sarcopenic obesity is the term used for people who are not obese by the BMI index but whose body fat percentage makes them overweight or obese.
Why should I care?
The consequences of sarcopenia are substantial. Loss of strength leads to falls, disability, limitations on mobility and fractures. It has been linked to a loss of energy and a decline in cognition. It is also linked to increased mortality.(3) In other words, you risk becoming dysfunctional and a burden unless you find a way to limit your loss in strength and power.
What causes sarcopenia?
While the consequences of sarcopenia are great, the causes of it are still being discovered. However, a few culprits have come to the forefront.
* A decrease in strength may come as a result of a loss of type 2 muscle fibers and a decline in muscle motor units.
* A decline in hormones or the body's response to them may contribute to it.
* Oxidative stress and inflammation may play a role in sarcopenia.
* Finally, a decline in protein synthesis and an increase in protein breakdown may play a role.
Avoiding Sarcopenia - What to do?
All is not lost. You can stop and even reverse the process with a few lifestyle modifications.
1. Exercise limits decline. More specifically, resistance training increases muscle strength, power and mass. Resistance training has been shown to increase muscle mass by over eleven percent and strength by over one hundred percent. Results have been shown in as little as 2 thirty minute sessions a week.(1)
2. Of course, just because you need resistance exercises does not mean you should leave out aerobic ones. Aerobic exercise improves endurance, cardiovascular fitness and reduces body fat. And while it will not increase power, it may increase muscle fibers and mitochondrial volume.
3. Make sure you get enough protein. The recommended amount of protein is.35 grams per pound of weight a day. If you exercise, you should eat more. Don't eat it all in one meal but break it up into twenty-five to thirty grams of high quality protein per meal. Eating protein with the amino acid leucine such as soybeans, beef, fish and beans may be particularly beneficial.(2)
4. Eat foods or supplements with creatine. Creatine may help build muscle through its role in cellular and protein metabolism. It also increases phosphocreatine levels which appear to help increase the intensity of workouts. Beef and other meats are the primary source of creatine in the diet so vegetarians may need to supplement it.
5. Eat foods high in antioxidants. Since oxidative stress may be a part of sarcopenia, reducing it should help limit the decline. Supplements and foods with antioxidants such as beans, berries, apples, and pecans may aid in limiting oxidative stress which will help limit muscle loss.
6. Take a Vitamin D supplement. It aids in metabolism and Vitamin D receptors located on the muscles help with protein synthesis.
7. Consider hormone replacement therapy. Hormones such as growth hormones and bio-identical testosterone may aid in increasing muscle mass and strength. Of course, you should consult a medical professional who is qualified in anti-aging medicine before partaking in it.
You are getting older. Don't let the aging process turn you from an active and productive person to a dysfunctional one. Work to avoid or at least limit sarcopenia and its detrimental consequences. Your future children or grandchildren will thank you for it.
Even if your weight remains the same, you may still be overweight or even obese. If you still weigh the same but you lost twenty percent of your muscle mass, guess what happened to the weight? That's right! It turned to fat. Sarcopenic obesity is the term used for people who are not obese by the BMI index but whose body fat percentage makes them overweight or obese.
Why should I care?
The consequences of sarcopenia are substantial. Loss of strength leads to falls, disability, limitations on mobility and fractures. It has been linked to a loss of energy and a decline in cognition. It is also linked to increased mortality.(3) In other words, you risk becoming dysfunctional and a burden unless you find a way to limit your loss in strength and power.
What causes sarcopenia?
While the consequences of sarcopenia are great, the causes of it are still being discovered. However, a few culprits have come to the forefront.
* A decrease in strength may come as a result of a loss of type 2 muscle fibers and a decline in muscle motor units.
* A decline in hormones or the body's response to them may contribute to it.
* Oxidative stress and inflammation may play a role in sarcopenia.
* Finally, a decline in protein synthesis and an increase in protein breakdown may play a role.
Avoiding Sarcopenia - What to do?
All is not lost. You can stop and even reverse the process with a few lifestyle modifications.
1. Exercise limits decline. More specifically, resistance training increases muscle strength, power and mass. Resistance training has been shown to increase muscle mass by over eleven percent and strength by over one hundred percent. Results have been shown in as little as 2 thirty minute sessions a week.(1)
2. Of course, just because you need resistance exercises does not mean you should leave out aerobic ones. Aerobic exercise improves endurance, cardiovascular fitness and reduces body fat. And while it will not increase power, it may increase muscle fibers and mitochondrial volume.
3. Make sure you get enough protein. The recommended amount of protein is.35 grams per pound of weight a day. If you exercise, you should eat more. Don't eat it all in one meal but break it up into twenty-five to thirty grams of high quality protein per meal. Eating protein with the amino acid leucine such as soybeans, beef, fish and beans may be particularly beneficial.(2)
4. Eat foods or supplements with creatine. Creatine may help build muscle through its role in cellular and protein metabolism. It also increases phosphocreatine levels which appear to help increase the intensity of workouts. Beef and other meats are the primary source of creatine in the diet so vegetarians may need to supplement it.
5. Eat foods high in antioxidants. Since oxidative stress may be a part of sarcopenia, reducing it should help limit the decline. Supplements and foods with antioxidants such as beans, berries, apples, and pecans may aid in limiting oxidative stress which will help limit muscle loss.
6. Take a Vitamin D supplement. It aids in metabolism and Vitamin D receptors located on the muscles help with protein synthesis.
7. Consider hormone replacement therapy. Hormones such as growth hormones and bio-identical testosterone may aid in increasing muscle mass and strength. Of course, you should consult a medical professional who is qualified in anti-aging medicine before partaking in it.
You are getting older. Don't let the aging process turn you from an active and productive person to a dysfunctional one. Work to avoid or at least limit sarcopenia and its detrimental consequences. Your future children or grandchildren will thank you for it.
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